1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to the design of baseball bats, and particularly bats made of wood material of less mass than conventional bats having a ball hitting portion with a circular transverse cross section.
2. Description of the Prior Art
The home plate of a regulation baseball diamond has a maximum dimension of about 18 inches parallel to the flight of a pitched baseball.
Many major league baseball pitchers throw a baseball at about 90 miles per hour. This converts to 132 feet per second or 1584 inches per second. A baseball moving at this velocity will pass over home plate in about 1/100th of a second.
A baseball batter has the best probability of hitting a pitched baseball if he or she can swing a maximum diameter bat permitted by league regulations, quickly enough to hit the incoming high-velocity pitched baseball.
The most powerful of batters are able to swing a maximum diameter and weight of cylindrical bat from the posed position to the hitting zone in the available time to hit the ball. Less powerful batters usually select a smaller diameter cylindrical bat which has a reduced mass and inertia, but this reduces the probability of hitting a pitched ball.
It is known to have baseball bat designs with ball hitting portions of non-circular transverse cross section as is shown in the expired Morris U.S. Pat. No. 400,354 of 1889. This Morris bat has a lower handle portion of circular cross section and an intermediate and ball hitting portions of oval cross section to present a larger striking-face. The Morris bat has a circular handle portion which gradually merges into an oval form. Hence it increases to about double the width with very little increase of thickness at the striking portion. This Morris patent does not discuss the importance of using a maximum diametrical dimension of the ball hitting portion nor does it discuss the importance of reducing the mass and inertia of the bat. This Morris bat has a weak intermediate portion 2, as is seen in FIG. V, so as to increase the elasticity of the bat. Hence, the Morris bat is prone to splinter when the pitched ball strikes the intermediate portion of the bat.
Another prior art patent is the Salsinger U.S. Pat. No. 3,104,876 which has a ball hitting portion with a square transverse cross section and a lower handle portion with a corrugated finger grip attached to the outside of and extending axially along the handle.
Another prior art patent is the Mann U.S. Pat. No. 3,554,545 which has a standard ball hitting portion of circular cross section and a lower handle portion with a dog leg configuration which imparts a laterally offset contour thereto relative to the longitudinal axis of the bat.
The Kreag U.S. Pat. No. 3,880,423 describes a hollow bat having a ball hitting portion with three striking surfaces, one of which is of foam rubber. This bat probably would not meet official major league baseball regulations.